Convergence describes the reduction in barriers between sectors, so that businesses have new opportunities and consumers benefit from greater choice and accessibility.

On 27 August 2015, a discussion paper was launched to consider the impact of convergence between the telecommunications, information technology, media and entertainment sectors in New Zealand.

“While these exciting changes are simplifying our lives and creating new opportunities, our laws haven’t kept pace. They treat different technologies separately, rather than as a whole. For example, a show broadcast on TV can fall under different laws than when it’s streamed on demand via the web. This is confusing, restrictive and dampens innovation.

“We need to consider the implications of convergence across the regulatory framework and ask whether our systems are calibrated for this converged world that we live in.”

This paper highlights the government’s cross departmental convergence work programme which aims to create a level playing field for content and information, regardless of what type of technology delivers it.

Submissions on the discussion paper Exploring Digital Convergence closed on 16 October 2015. 48 submissions were received. 43 submissions are published below. Five submitters requested their submission remain confidential and these have not been published.

These submissions represent the views of the individual submitters. The Crown does not accept responsibility for the accuracy of the information contained in these submissions. The submissions do not represent the views of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage or the New Zealand Government. All of these submissions are published as pdf documents.